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‘Like Jim Jones in Guyana’: Ultra MAGA Christian Nationalist Gubernatorial Nominee Has Both Parties Worried – Report

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In the swing state of Pennsylvania, Republican primary voters have nominated a gubernatorial candidate who, shockingly, is even to the right of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas: State Sen. Doug Mastriano, who is going up against the Democratic nominee, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, in the general election. Mastriano is a far-right, ultra-MAGA Christian nationalist and conspiracy theorist who continues to promote the Big Lie and falsely claims that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump — and a combination of Democrats and establishment Republicans are cringing over the nomination.

Democrats are cringing because Mastriano is so extreme. Republicans are cringing because they fear their party may have blown a chance to have a GOP governor in 2023.

Journalist David Siders takes a close look at Mastriano’s campaign in an article published by Politico on June 10, noting what members of the United States’ two major political parties have been saying about him.

“Mastriano’s victory in the Republican primary for governor last month disgusted Democrats and panicked establishment-minded Republicans,” Siders observes. “To them, he represented a structural threat to democracy, objectionable primarily for promoting Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was rigged. Many of Mastriano’s supporters admire him for that same reason. They too, remain devoted to Trump’s election falsehoods, and they cheered Mastriano’s protests of COVID restrictions in the state.”

Pennsylvania is the ultimate swing state, famously described by Democratic strategist James Carville as Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west and Alabama in between. Carville said that back in the 1980s, when he ran the late Bob Casey, Sr.’s gubernatorial campaign. But it still holds true in 2022

Mastriano obviously isn’t going to get much support in Philly Proper, which is overwhelmingly Democratic; Philly’s last GOP mayor, Bernard Samuel, left office in January 1952. It remains to be seen, however, how well Mastriano will perform against Shapiro in Central Pennsylvania, which is much more GOP-friendly.

Siders quotes Neil Oxman, a Pennsylvania-based Democratic adman, as saying of Mastriano, “He’s a nut bag.” And former Rep. Melissa Hart, a Pennsylvania Republican, described Mastriano as someone who “comes across as a cult guy.”

Pennsylvania-based Democratic strategist Daniel Fee told Politico, “(Mastriano) has some rhetoric where you expect people to start holding hands and running towards the cliff. I think he will disqualify himself.”

Interviewed on condition of anonymity, a Politico source described by Siders as a “prominent Republican in Pennsylvania” said of Mastriano, “No one wanted him.”

Another anonymous GOP source described Mastriano as “like Jim Jones in Guyana.”

But the problem with dismissing a far-right Republican extremist as unelectable is that they can surprise you and do much better than expected. In 2016, many pundits wrote off Donald Trump as someone who couldn’t carry Pennsylvania; they were wrong, which is why now-President Joe Biden’s campaign left nothing to chance in the Keystone State in 2020 — and why, unlike Hillary Clinton four years earlier, Biden picked up Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes.

Biden, however, only won Pennsylvania by about 2%, while Clinton lost it by less than 1% in 2016. Neither deep red nor deep blue, Pennsylvania is the type of state that can go either way, depending on who shows up on Election Day.

Siders observes, “During the primary, he developed a following by railing against COVID mask and vaccine mandates. He said his opposition to abortion rights includes no exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother. He wants to require voters to reregister.”

Joshua Novotney, a GOP lobbyist and former adviser to Sen. Pat Toomey told Politico that ordinarily, he wouldn’t expect someone as far to the right as Mastriano to win in Pennsylvania. But Novotney believes that Mastriano may have a chance if the race becomes a referendum on Biden and inflation.

“I’d say he’s not running against Josh Shapiro,” Novotney said of Mastriano. “He’s running against Joe Biden, and anything’s possible.”

 

 

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King Charles Discreetly Rebukes Trump in Historic Address to Congress: Report

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Britain’s King Charles III delivered a “carefully targeted rebuff” of President Donald Trump and his MAGA allies during his historic address before Congress, Politico reports, as he lauded NATO and called for “unyielding resolve” to defend Ukraine against Russia.

“British monarchs deliver their political messages in code,” Politico noted, adding that “contrary to the president’s repeated claims over recent weeks, NATO was in fact there to help in America’s hour of need.”

Charles told members of Congress that in “the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time, and the United Nations Security Council was united in the face of terror, we answered the call together, as our people have done so, for more than a century.”

“Shoulder to shoulder,” he declared, “through two world wars, the Cold War, Afghanistan, and moments that have defined our shared security. Today, Mr. Speaker, that same unyielding resolve is needed for the defense of Ukraine and her most courageous people.”

His Ukraine entreaty received bipartisan applause and a standing ovation.

READ MORE: Trump ‘Frustrated’ by Ballroom Legal Battles — So GOP Wants You to Pay for It: Report

Charles praised the United States’ armed forces’ “commitment and expertise,” and that of its allies, that “lie at the heart of NATO.”

Calling it “a direct plea to Trump and Hill Republicans to maintain American support against the Russian invasion,” Politico stated that Charles “is striking a very different tone from Trump’s incessant criticisms of Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.”

READ MORE: FCC Poised to Review Disney Licenses Amid Trump Pressure Over Kimmel Joke: Report

 

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Trump White House Blames Democrats’ ‘Unhinged Rhetoric’ for Inciting WHCD Attack

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The White House is alleging that “unhinged” and “sick rhetoric” from Democrats is to blame for inciting the alleged assassination attempt on President Donald Trump and members of his administration by “another Radical Left lunatic.”

On Saturday, at the hotel hosting the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner, a heavily armed man broke through a security checkpoint on the floor above the event and was taken down by Secret Service agents. In his manifesto, the suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, allegedly named “Administration officials ” as his primary “targets.”

On Tuesday, in a press release titled “Democrats’ Unhinged Rhetoric Incites Third Assassination Attempt on President Trump,” the Trump White House charged that the “attack was not random; it was the predictable result of years of reckless, inflammatory, and escalating rhetoric from Democrats” who “have created a toxic environment that incites their supporters to violence again and again.”

The White House listed over a dozen prominent Democrats and their remarks.

For example, it cited House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who said that Democrats “are in an era of maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time” against Republicans. Jeffries’ remarks were initially taken from a direct quote attributed to a “person close to the White House,” as The New York Times reported last year.

READ MORE: Trump ‘Frustrated’ by Ballroom Legal Battles — So GOP Wants You to Pay for It: Report

In August, The Times reported: “One person close to the president, who insisted on anonymity to describe the White House’s political strategy candidly, summed it up succinctly: ‘Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.'”

The White House did not mention the connection.

In its press release, the White House also quoted Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who “called on his supporters to ‘be forcefully rising up against’ President Trump.” Senator Schumer did not say, against President Trump. He said, “against this,” referring to the Trump Justice Department’s prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The White House also cited Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro for saying that “heads do need to roll” inside the Trump Administration, and California Governor Gavin Newsom for urging supporters to “punch these sons of b —— in the mouth.”

In total, the White House cited eighteen Democrats and their statements.

READ MORE: ‘This Will Backfire’: DeSantis’s New Redistricting Map Is Already in Trouble

 

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FCC Poised to Review Disney Licenses Amid Trump Pressure Over Kimmel Joke: Report

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The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to review Disney’s broadcast licenses, according to an exclusive report by Semafor.

According to Semafor, a person familiar with the FCC’s thinking said the review is not directly tied to a monologue delivered last week by ABC’s late night host Jimmy Kimmel, which targeted President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.

But NBC News, citing a source familiar with the matter, reported later on Tuesday that the FCC is expected to order Disney’s eight broadcast stations to file their broadcast license reviews early.

A source told NBC News the move was “unprecedented” and directly tied to Kimmel’s comments.

On Monday, First Lady Melania Trump blasted ABC, demanding the broadcast network hold Kimmel to account.

READ MORE: Trump ‘Frustrated’ by Ballroom Legal Battles — So GOP Wants You to Pay for It: Report

“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” the First Lady said on social media. “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.”

“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,” she continued, calling the late night host a “coward” who “hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him.”

Later on Monday, President Trump went even further than the First Lady, demanding Kimmel “be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”

Days earlier, on Thursday night, in a mock version of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Kimmel delivered several jokes, including saying: “Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

Kimmel delivered his monologue two days before an alleged assassination attempt targeting Trump and top administration officials at the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.

READ MORE: Coming Price Spike Made Worse by Trump Could Deal ‘Fatal Blow’ to GOP: Report

 

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